Halle Berry

Halle Berry (birthname: Maria Halle Berry) is one of only two women of color to win the Best Actress Oscar, which she won for Monster’s Ball (2001), and is the first actress to portray lead characters in both Marvel Universe (X-Men) and DC Comics (Catwoman) vehicles. Berry was cast by filmmaker Spike Lee in a small but impressive role as a junkie in his drama, Jungle Fever (1991), starring Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra, and grossing $44 million for Universal Pictures, and then Berry landed her first co-starring role in Warner Bros.’ comedy Strictly Business (1991), with Tommy Davidson and David Marshall Grant under Kevin Hooks’ direction.

Berry co-starred with Eddie Murphy in the Reginald Hudlin-directed rom-com Boomerang (1992), with Robin Givens, David Alan Grier, Martin Lawrence, Grace Jones, Eartha Kitt, and Chris Rock, winning a profitable $131 million return for Paramount Pictures. Berry was in another broad comedy with Universal Pictures’ big-screen remake of the beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, The Flintstones (1994), with John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Elizabeth Perkins, Rosie O’Donnell, Kyle MacLachlan, and Elizabeth Taylor, earning $341.6 million globally (against $46 million costs).

Halle Berry co-starred with Jessica Lange in Paramount’s motherhood drama, Losing Isaiah (1995), with David Strathairn, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Samuel L. Jackson under Stephen Gyllenhaal, and then Berry co-starred Kurt Russell in the Stuart Baird-directed thriller Executive Decision (1996), with John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, and Steven Seagal and returning a solid $122 million for Silver Pictures/Warner Bros.

Berry joined star-filmmaker Warren Beatty’s wild political satire Bulworth (1998), co-starring Don Cheadle, Oliver Platt, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah Washington, released by 20^th Century Fox and nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and then Berry displayed her versatility by co-starring in the pop music biopic Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), with Vivica A. Fox, Lela Rochon, Larenz Tate and Little Richard under Gregory Nava’s direction for Rhino Films/Warner Bros.

Berry forged a major female presence in the early phase of the dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe era as Storm over a sustained fifteen-year period in Marvel’s franchise produced and released by 20^th Century Fox, X-Men (2000), X2: X-Men United (2003),  X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), under the various direction of Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner, grossing a cumulative $1.9 million globally. Berry then starred with John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, and Don Cheadle in the Dominic Sena-directed crime movie  Swordfish (2001), produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and Silver Pictures and released by Warner Bros.

Halle Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress for her stunning performance as a widow in Monster’s Ball (2001), co-starring Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Sean Combs, Mos Def, and Peter Boyle under Marc Forster’s direction and providing a major hit for Lionsgate with a $45 million gross (against $4 million costs). Berry was the first female actor to play a “Bond girl” immediately after winning the Oscar, as “Jinx” opposite Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in Die Another Day (2002), directed by Lee Tamahori and with Rosamund Pike, John Cleese, and Judi Dench, delivering a $432 million take for MGM, and then Berry was the lead star in the Mathieu Kassovitz-directed horror hit, Gothika (2003), with Robert Downey Jr., Charles S. Dutton, John Carroll Lynch, Bernard Hill, and Penelope Cruz, earning $141.6 million for Warner Bros./Columbia TriStar.

Berry took on the DC Comics superhero in the universally panned bomb, Catwoman (2004), directed by French director Pitof and co-starring Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson and Frances Conroy, with a disastrous $82 million return for Village Roadshow Pictures/Warner Bros. Berry delivered one of her few voice roles in an animated movie for 20^th Century Fox/Blue Sky Studios’ successful, non-franchise feature Robots (2005), directed by Chris Wedge and with the voices of Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, Greg Kinnear, and Drew Carey, grossing over $262 million.

Halle Berry co-starred with Bruce Willis in the James Foley-directed psychological thriller for Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios/Sony Releasing, Perfect Stranger (2007), with Giovanni Ribisi, and then Berry co-starred with Benicio del Toro in the Allan Loeb-written drama, Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier and produced by Sam Mendes, featuring David Duchovny, Alison Lohman and John Carroll Lynch, and released to poor box office by Paramount Pictures. Berry was star-producer of the Geoffrey Sax-directed Canadian drama, Frankie & Alice (2010), co-starring Stellan Skarsgård and Phylicia Rashad, and released by Lionsgate after a Cannes Film Festival premiere.

Berry turned to ensemble comedy under Garry Marshall’s direction for New Year’s Eve (2011), co-starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sofia Vergara, returning a happy $142 million for New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Berry joined star Tom Hanks for an ambitious screen version of David Mitchell’s fantasy epic Cloud Atlas (2012), with Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant under the combined direction of producers Lana and Lilly Wachowski and Tom Tykwer (who also produced and wrote part of the score), but delivering a poor $130.4 gross against $129 million costs for Warner Bros.

Berry starred in the Brad Anderson-directed crime thriller, The Call (2013), co-starring Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, and Michael Imperioli, and proving to be a box-office winner with a $68.6 million gross (against $13 million costs) for Sony/TriStar, followed by Berry switching into action mode as star-producer for director Luis Prieto in Kidnap (2017), grossing $35 million for distributor Aviron Pictures.

Halle Berry teamed with Daniel Craig for director/writer Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s disappointing Los Angeles-set drama, Kings (2017), premiering at the Toronto Film Festival before a weak release by The Orchard, and then Berry joined one of her rare franchise projects with director/producer Matthew Vaughn’s sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), co-starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Elton John, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges, and firing up the box office with a $411 million global gross for 20^th Century Fox.

Halle Berry appeared in a supporting role in the hit sequel directed by Chad Stahelski, John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum (2019), starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston and Ian McShane, earning a knockout $327.7 million for Lionsgate. Berry had her feature directorial debut with the woman’s UFC-themed movie Bruised (2020), in which Berry starred (and narrated) with Shamier Anderson, and which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival before a Netflix release.

Berry starred in director/co-writer/producer Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi commercial and critical bomb ($67 million gross on $150 million costs), Moonfall (2022), with Patrick Wilson, Michael Pena, Kelly Yu, and Donald Sutherland, and then Berry was star-producer of another genre movie, director/producer Alexandre Aja’s horror movie, Never Let Go (2024), released by Lionsgate.

Halle Berry was the star and producer of the cult-themed thriller The Process (date to be announced), directed by Tara Miele, and then Berry continued as star-producer on the action thriller Maude v Maude (date to be announced), directed by Roseanne Liang and co-starring Angelina Jolie.